Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Ain't No April Fools Joke

Nope, this really is a post from me. And there is a good reason I never posted from the rest of January straight through to now. Every post would have said "Today it snowed." and had this photo accompanying it. And since most of you could look out your own windows and see the same thing, what would make my snow any more exciting?

I suppose there would have been a few interesting things mixed in, like seed catalogs, orders and first plantings...


And these two little monkeys who think wrestling on my lap while I try to drink coffee is just the best thing ever.


And the snow *finally* melting (hallelujah thank-you Jesus)


And the tomatoes the kiddos and I planted last week finally coming up.


Not to mention birthdays (I didn't make a thing by the way. Store-bought birthday presents all around. Also, I'm not sewing dresses for the girls for Easter. I'm not even sure who I am anymore.), a trip to the ER (again) for Sprout not two days after my last post. For those interested, he swallowed a penny. And kept saying "Penny stuck fwoat. Hurht." Fortunately it was *not* stuck fwoat, and made it's appearance a few days later.
Then just 10 days ago, the 70 lb. "puppy" decided to buck the rules and try to jump into bed with Biscuit. Which resulted in a humdinger of a scratched cornea.
Best of all though, is one of my sisters got engaged right after Christmas (to her best friends older brother- they've known each other nearly their entire lives, but had only been dating about three and half months), and so every spare minute or two has been spent planning and working on her wedding shower, which at present has a guest list of well over a hundred and before thinking it through, I decided a tea party would be good. And it will be, but I am a HORRIBLE delegator and feel guilty asking people to do things. But it will be fine. And lovely. And there you are.

Bon

Thursday, January 1, 2015

New Years Chatter About Pretty Much Everything

This picture really doesn't have anything to do with this post. But a pictureless post seems naked, so here it is.

The kidlets are tucked into their beds, dishes are washed, Braden's lunch packed for tomorrow, and the coffee set up. Finally, some time to blog!
I am so ready for this year of 2015 (side note: so ready that I don't have a calendar yet. Somehow I always forget to buy one. Always.), after the rough year 2014 was. I'm not for resolutions, but I do like to dream/plan, and think about what needs to change for the coming year.
High on that long list (and maybe repeated every so often) is finding or making a realistic housekeeping schedule. The girls got all of the American Girl movies from their aunt and cousins for Christmas and we watched Kit this evening. After that, I'm rarin' to make myself a new apron and go.
I printed out a bunch of schedules I found on line and I'm thinking we'll just give each one a few weeks go and see what we like.  A tidy house is a must. I see too many times in blogland where home keeping is looked down upon. That having a clean house means you're somehow depriving your children of your time, and you can clean when they've grown. My opinion is that having your children help with the house work means A. you're spending time with them while getting something done, B. you're teaching them the importance of order and keeping things clean, and C. that as part of the family, they are expected to do work, and parents are not servants. How will they learn if Mama blows it off or does it for them? The kids do the majority of dishwashing, sweeping and tidying, but we need some sort of plan of attack for the rest of the house that will fit in with homeschooling.
I'm wishing I could dump the house out onto the front lawn right now and put it all back together and start fresh that way.

Next on my list is getting my wardrobe in shape. It's pathetic. Really really pathetic. And I've noticed *I* get more done and feel happier when I've actually taken the time to dress nicely, throw on a little make-up and do something with my hair besides a ponytail. I've read through (and plan to re-read as well as take notes on) all of the FANTASTIC posts on femininity Emma at Charming the Birds From the Trees has written. And when I incorporated them, I felt pretty darn good. And then we got into holiday business and now we're back at the starting line.
Another reason is that I don't want my girls falling into the trap of frumpiness. They seem to be watching me closer everyday, and I'm seeing their own dressing follows what I'm wearing. I don't want them to be clothes horses, but I do want them to learn to dress nicely for their families. If we dress up for company and those we want to make a good impression on, why would we think our own families don't care that we dress as slobs for them?
I'm still trying to figure out my style. I know what I like, but it doesn't always like me, and then also, I will be 35 this year. Am I dressing age appropriate? Sigh.
Here's a list of links which *should*take you to Emma's posts:
From Frumpy to Fabulous
Commitment to Loveliness
General Femininity Posts
Feminine Dress Posts
Feminine Tips
Finishing School
One of my favorite things about Emma? She's not petite. She's a bit taller than I am and silly as it sounds, I feel like I can relate to her better. You can be tall and feminine!

Moving on with my list is eating and "health". We ate a LOT of crap last year. We just did. The good news is- I didn't gain too much weight from it. That said, I'm also NOT going to try to lose it. If I do, great, but I am tired of the merry go 'round of "Oh I can't eat this or that because I'm trying to lose weight, yada yada yada."  I am done with that. On the whole, (with a few exceptions) we eat a good healthy diet. My weight has pretty much stayed the same for the last year and I have decided to be fine with that. Too many times have I heard "So and so lost so much weight, don't they look great?" As if there was something horribly wrong with them before? No. My worth as a person is not found in what I weigh or how skinny I am, and I will not let my own vanity tell me otherwise. I will be happy and healthy where I am. I will not wait until I'm a certain weight to enjoy life. I do plan to get on the elliptical more, and I know I need to drink more water. I feel better when I do. I will change and adjust our regular food as I learn more about health, but I will do that for all of us, not as a weight thing.

Now I will talk about my house and farm plans. I have millions of them. I also have no money for decorating. Goals though are to do something with our bedroom which is full of hideously ugly furniture, black sheets covering the windows, no curtains and I HATE it. I am challenging myself to make it over before summer. Somehow and with no money. And I want to love it, not just be okay with it.
I also want to spruce up our porch, it just looks tired. And every room in this house because it's all shabby and needs it (except the living room, we got some hand me down furniture and it finally looks comfortable and inviting!) especially painting.
As much as I want to add more animals and some fruits to the farm, I'm scaling back and just planning on re-establishing the herb garden (it all got torn out last summer when we had to have our drainage worked on) and getting enough seedlings started to sell. (Maybe a roadside stand?) Anything else will be a great surprise.
Not related to any of the above is my hope to open an Etsy shop. I've got some ideas floating around the old noggin' and I would like to put them into action.

Rounding out this very long list is the most important: A regular Bible quiet time. I *know* a lot of the reason last year was so hard was because I bore the load by myself instead of making time to spend with God. I hate that desperately grasping feeling. My two biggest problems are finding the time to do it (My preferred time is first thing in the morning, but Sprout usually wakes up when I do and nothing gets done. Come evening, I generally forget.), and a good study. I have a very hard time just reading, I need some sort of plan, a goal so to speak. I've tried several, but nothing feels like "it".

Well then, congratulations if you read all of that drivel! And if you have any advice to offer on any of it PLEASE DO- introduce yourself and say hello! I'm not the best at replying to comments, but I do read them!

Signing off,
Bonnie